Chapter 19 - Twenty-Seven MinutesSebastián stared at Rebeca.
"Mom?"
She looked exhausted.
"I tried to warn you."
"You nearly killed us."
"I was trying to stop them."
"With a gun?"
"With everything I had."
She looked at the baby.
"They will never stop."
Valeria stepped forward.
"What happened to Vega?"
"Alive."
"And Adrián?"
Rebeca shook her head.
"Missing."
Sebastián looked at the monitor.
DEATH PROBABILITY: 94%.
The number was falling.
Valeria noticed.
"It changes."
Her father nodded.
"Because the future isn't fixed."
Sebastián asked:
"Then why was it ninety-seven percent?"
"Because the system accounts for current choices."
He stared at Rebeca.
She said nothing.
"Mom."
She looked at him.
"What are you hiding?"
Rebeca slowly reached into her coat.
She removed a small key.
Not a digital key.
A physical one.
Black metal.
"Your father gave this to me eleven years ago."
Sebastián took it.
"What does it open?"
"Your father's grave."
He frowned.
"We already opened the mausoleum."
"Not that grave."
She looked at Valeria.
"Your mother's."
The train stopped.
The doors opened.
Outside was an abandoned cemetery.
They followed Rebeca to a stone grave.
Valeria's mother.
The name was carved into the stone.
Rebeca inserted the key.
Nothing happened.
Then the entire grave shifted.
A hidden staircase appeared.
They descended.
At the bottom was a room.
Inside was a single terminal.
Rebeca entered the code.
The screen displayed:
ORIGIN PROTOCOL TERMINATION
Valeria stepped closer.
"What is it?"
"My mother's final instruction," Rebeca said.
Valeria stared.
"Your mother?"
Rebeca nodded.
"She asked me to protect you."
Valeria went still.
"You knew her?"
"For years."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because she made me promise."
"To protect me from what?"
Rebeca looked at the baby.
"From Project Origin."
The terminal opened.
A video appeared.
Valeria's mother.
Alive.
Older.
Tired.
She looked directly at the camera.
"If you're watching this, then my daughter has a child."
Valeria cried silently.
Her mother continued.
"The system cannot be destroyed by force."
The screen changed.
"It can only be destroyed by refusing to obey it."
Sebastián frowned.
"What does that mean?"
Valeria's mother answered:
"Every generation was given a choice."
"Power or freedom."
"They always chose power."
She looked into the camera.
"Make a different choice."
The terminal displayed two buttons.
ACTIVATE
ERASE
Valeria reached toward ERASE.
Her father grabbed her wrist.
"Don't."
"Why?"
"Erasing the system will erase the evidence."
Sebastián looked at the ledger.
"We can preserve copies."
"Not all."
"Then some people will escape."
"Millions may lose their identities."
Valeria looked at Sebastián.
"What would you do?"
He looked at the baby.
Then at the screen.
Then at Rebeca.
"I'd erase it."
Valeria nodded.
She pressed the button.
The screen went black.
For a moment, nothing happened.
Then every phone in the room vibrated.
One message.
PROJECT ORIGIN TERMINATED.
Sebastián exhaled.
Then another message appeared.
SECONDARY SYSTEM DETECTED.
His blood ran cold.
Valeria stared.
"There's another one."
The lights turned red.
A new screen activated.
PROJECT ORIGIN II
Below it:
LOCATION: WHITE HOUSE.
Sebastián stared.
"What?"
Grant's voice came through the radio.
"Sebastián."
"What?"
"We just received an emergency transmission."
"From who?"
Grant's voice trembled.
"The President."
A pause.
"He wants to speak to you."
Sebastián looked at Valeria.
The baby began crying.
Then the radio crackled again.
May you like
The President's voice said:
"Your family has forty-eight hours to surrender the child."
